From the Boston States...Maine and New Hampshire

This past weekend my wife and I traveled to beautiful coastal Maine. The purpose of the trip was for the wedding of a college friend of my wife's on Southport Island, near Boothbay Harbor. The wedding was 3 in the afternoon, so in order to give us some time to explore Boothbay a little, we left western Massachusetts at 6 AM in order to beat "beach traffic" and to not make the 4 1/2 hour drive any longer by getting stuck in freeway traffic. We arrived in Boothbay Harbor by 10:30, and what a sight. The harbor was full of boats of all shapes and sizes, from kayaks to yachts, sailboats and lobster boats, and everything else in between. We meandered down to our ocean side hotel, the Fisherman's Wharf Inn, parked our car, and decided to explore the quaint shops and side streets around the harbor front.

We've had some really hot weather this past week, and it was into the 80's even here in Maine, and before noon. That's too hot for a fair skinned Newfoundlander like myself. Anyways that's what cold beer are for. Another highlight of our trip was getting to see my wife's very good friend Elizabeth, and meet her new man. They arrived in town a bit after us and we we meeting them for lunch before the wedding. Mary and I scouted out the harbor front eat and settled on a place called McSeagull's (http://www.mcseagullsonline.com/enter/) where there was deck dining, live music and lots a lobster on the menu. Since I don't like lobster (I know I'm a freak) I went for the bowl of clam chowder, and a couple of pints of icy Shipyard summer ale (http://www.shipyard.com/). The beer was delicious, and the chowder was definitely as good as I've ever had....probably the heaviest on the clams for sure, which is a good thing. It was thick and creamy, with celery, onion, potatoes, and little pieces of salty, smoky bacon. I haven't tried my hand at making clam chowder yet, but this was surely a recipe to attempt to recreate.

The rest of the day in Boothbay was really great, a beautiful outdoor wedding, followed by drinks with friends back at McSeagulls. Sunday morning we had to get on the road before lunch time as we had a long afternoon of driving ahead of us, even more for me as I needed to go all the way to Albany. After finding a Tim Hortons in Brunswick, Maine, I was in good spirits, and Mary had requested that we get our afternoon meal at her favorite sub shop, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Moe's is more than a sub shop, it is a sub haven (http://www.moesitaliansandwiches.com/) . While they offer standard sub sandwich varieties, the only real option is the Moe's Original, a soft white bread roll, stuffed with Moe's special mild salami (if you like bologna you'll love this salami), thinly sliced green peppers and mild white onions, zesty sliced pickles, tomato, a few bits of black olives and a special seasoned oil blend with chili flakes. We picked up our subs, with some kettle cooked potato chips (sour cream and onion for me....yum) and some ginger ale (it's good for a hangover) and we were all set. We drove out of the busy downtown, and found a small vacant lot just before the highway. These sandwiches were spectacular. This is most definitely a stop off the highway if you ever drive through the narrow section of coastal New Hampshire between Maine and Massachusetts. You can also stop for some cheap New Hampshire booze. You know, a 26 ox bottle of Newfoundland's famous Screech dark rum only costs you $10.99 there. Needless to say, my liqour cabinet is well stocked. More on Screech in an upcoming post!